


spelling bee

by orphan_account



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Elementary School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, Kid!Yuuri, M/M, spelling bees, teen!Viktor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-16
Updated: 2017-03-16
Packaged: 2018-10-06 01:35:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10322519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Yuuri decides to participate in the grade-wide spelling bee. Viktor, of course, is there to cheer him on.





	

**Author's Note:**

> jsyk this is an american school system modern setting fic so let's just pretend the yoi characters all live in america for plot reasons ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ
> 
> also i have no idea how spelling bees work but i like to do unexpected things with prompts so here we are
>
>> written for the [fandom writing challenge](http://fandomwritingchallenge.tumblr.com) march 2017 'sports' prompt "trophy"

“Yuuri! Yuuri!”

Yuuri glances up from his food as Viktor bounds into the house, kicking off his shoes and hanging his jacket up. He gives Viktor a small smile as he skips over to Yuuri, wrapping him in a tight hug as he plops himself on the floor.

“Hi, Viktor.”

“I hear the fourth grade’s having their annual spelling bee,” Viktor says, leaning over to steal a bite of food. He smiles down at Yuuri. “Are you going to do it?”

Yuuri shrugs, looking away. “I was thinking about it. But I don’t know.” His mother bustles through, smiling and greeting Viktor warmly and patting Yuuri on the head before continuing her day, humming as she goes.

“I did it when I was in the fourth grade,” Viktor tells him, and Yuuri rolls his eyes. Of course he did. “It was lots of fun!”

“Did you win?” Yuuri asks, but he already knows the answer. He lets Viktor steal another bite of food.

Viktor knows he knows, and he laughs. “You’ve seen the award yourself, Yuuri!” He has. It’s a small trophy with _Hasetsu Elementary School 4 th Grade Spelling Bee Winner _etched into the plaque on the base. “Of course I did!”

“You’re too smart,” Yuuri grumbles, but there’s a smile on his face. Viktor is extremely smart. It’s something Yuuri admires about him. They share Yuuri’s lunch in silence for a couple minutes before Yuuri says, “I think I’m gonna do it.”

“Yeah?” Viktor looks excited, eyes shining and big, and Yuuri nods.

“I’m gonna win it like you did!” he declares, and Viktor hugs him again.

“You can do it, Yuuri!” he says, and then he pulls back to look at Yuuri, still smiling. Always smiling. “If you want, I can help you practice! They usually give a book full of words they might have you spell so you can practice, so we can add that on after homework!”

The growing nervousness in his chest recedes, and Yuuri nods in agreement. “I’d like that.”

“Then it’s settled!” Viktor jumps up, hands on his hips and grinning down at Yuuri. “You’ll sign up for the spelling bee on Monday, and then we start your training!” He winks. “You’ll win for sure!”

Yuuri nods enthusiastically, smiling brightly up at his best friend. “Yeah!”

The rest of their weekend is spent looking through Viktor’s old spelling bee practice book, Yuuri diligently memorizing words and how to spell them. On Monday, like promised, Yuuri approaches Ms. Minako and tells her he wants to participate in the spelling bee. She grins, and the proud gleam in her eyes makes Yuuri feel warm and happy.

“Glad to have you, Yuuri,” she says, squeezing his shoulders in encouragement. “I’ll get you the practice booklet before lunch, okay?”

He spends lunch practicing words with Yuuko and Takeshi—Yuuko is just as excited and encouraging as Viktor, and Takeshi is just there to be annoying and make sure they don’t work too hard.

When he gets home, Viktor is waiting for him, sprawled on the floor in Yuuri’s bedroom playing with Makkachin. He perks up at Yuuri’s entrance, and Makkachin gives a welcoming _boof!_ before bounding over to knock Yuuri to the ground, laughing.

“Hey, Makkachin,” Yuuri greets, giggling as Makkachin licks his face. He pets the dog, rubbing behind Makkachin’s ears and nuzzling against Makkachin’s nose. “Okay, get off!”

Makkachin gives one more _boof!_ and goes back to Viktor, and Yuuri grins up at them. Viktor beams back.

“Welcome home, Yuuri!” Viktor greets, wrapping Yuuri in a hug. “You ready to practice?”

“I thought homework comes first,” Yuuri points out, giggling when Viktor pouts. “C’mon, Viktor, let’s do our homework.

Viktor sighs dramatically but acquiesces, and they spend the next hour or so quietly working side by side. They share Viktor’s iPod, one earbud in each of their ears between them, and Viktor hums softly to the songs as he scribbles out math equations from his textbook. Yuuri works on his times tables worksheets and only has to grab Viktor’s calculator twice.

Yuuri’s mom comes in with a plate of snacks just as Yuuri puts his completed homework away and Viktor closes his textbook, pushing it away. She pats their heads with a hum and a smile, pressing a kiss to Yuuri’s forehead, and wanders away again after asking if Viktor planned to stay for dinner. Viktor’s _Of course, obaa-san!_ is enthusiastic, as always.

“Done!” Viktor says, tossing his pencil down. He grins at Yuuri, stretching his arms up. “ _Now_ we can practice words, right?”

Yuuri shakes his head fondly, smiling, and takes one of the sandwich triangles from the plate. “You’re very persistent, Viktor.”

Viktor gives him a sly grin, tilting his head. “That’s a pretty big word, Yuuri!” he teases. “Have you been practicing without me?”

“Yes,” Yuuri says, fighting a grin when Viktor pouts. “Yuuko went through some of the words together with me at lunch today. I looked that one up on my own, though. I heard someone use it and wanted to know what it meant.” He pauses, suddenly unsure of himself. “Did I use it right?”

Viktor puts him at ease when he chuckles and ruffles Yuuri’s hair. “Yes, you did, Yuuri,” he says. “It’s a good word. Now, how about we learn some more, hm?”

Yuuri nods in agreement and pulls out his booklet of words to practice. They spend an hour going through the list, Viktor giving him a word and Yuuri repeating it, spelling it, and repeating it again, occasionally asking Viktor to use it in a sentence when he’s unsure, the way it’ll be at the spelling bee. Yuuri gets a lot of them right first try, and the ones he stumbles over the most are the ones with silent letters.

They do this every afternoon in the two weeks leading up to the spelling bee. As each day passes and the spelling bee gets closer and closer, Yuuri’s nerves climb and climb, and he finds himself twisting his hands together in restless anticipation and anxiety.

_What if I do bad? What if I forget a word I know? What if I mess up on my first word? Oh, gosh, how embarrassing would that be._

Thoughts like these are normal for him, but Yuuri still hasn’t figured out how to ignore them. The night before the spelling bee, he picks at his food at dinner, staring off into space and only hearing his dad’s booming voice laughing, his mom’s soft voice answering lightly, Mari- _nee-chan’s_ bored voice grumbling across the table, but not understanding anything being said.

It’s Viktor who finally pulls him out of his head as they head to Yuuri’s room to get ready for bed that night.

“You’ll be fine, Yuuri,” Viktor says gently as he pulls off his pants, leaving just his underwear. Yuuri looks up at him with wide eyes, finally listening. Viktor smiles at him. “You’re gonna do so well! I bet you even win it! You _can_ win it, Yuuri!”

The knot in his stomach that’s been making him want to throw up loosens a little, and Yuuri returns the smile with a small one of his own. “Thank you, Viktor.” He pulls his shirt off, pulling out the one he likes to sleep in. “I hope I do good.”

“You _will!”_ Viktor bounces onto the bed, Makkachin jumping up on it too and curling up at the foot. “You’ve practiced hard and it’ll pay off! You’re gonna win, I know it!”

Yuuri climbs into his bed beside Viktor, curling up under his comforter while Viktor props himself on top, his head in his hand and looking at Yuuri. Yuuri looks at Viktor, his bright blue eyes, his hair in a loose braid falling over his shoulder. It’s getting long— almost to his waist, now.

“What if I don’t?” he asks softly, so quiet it’s practically a whisper.

Viktor hears him anyway, just like he always does. “Then you don’t,” Viktor says simply, shoulders moving up and down in a shrug. “But you _can._ You _will._ I believe in you, Yuuri.”

They’re quiet after that, but Yuuri knows Viktor knows he appreciates Viktor’s words. He eventually falls asleep to Viktor’s hand running soothingly through his hair and Makkachin’s breaths from the end of the bed.

The day of the spelling bee, Yuuri’s twisting his hands together nervously again, watching as the teachers organizing the event bustle about getting everything in order. He waits with a classroom’s amount of other kids participating, some of them his own classmates, some he only knows by face that he’s passed in the hallway before. The auditorium is filling with parents and some of the study hall classes, and Yuuri sees the telltale bright flash of Viktor’s long hair in the dim light.

Viktor spots him and waves enthusiastically, and Yuuri feels more at ease, returning the wave with a timid smile.

Finally, everyone is called to order by the principal, and Yuuri takes several deep breaths, reminding himself of Viktor’s words— _You can do this, Yuuri! I believe in you!_

“Welcome to the annual Fourth Grade Spelling Bee!” the principal starts. “Thank you all for being here today. It’s a pleasure to see so many bright students here today, so let’s give them all a big round of applause!” Encouraging clapping comes from the audience. “Now, without further ado, let’s get started!”

They’re going alphabetically by last name, so Yuuri is in the middle of the group. He watches as his classmates are called forward, asked to introduce themselves, and then given their first word to spell. He recognizes some, spells them silently in his head while the student spells them out loud, and is told they were either correct or incorrect. By the time it’s his turn, he’s missed two words total.

“State your name and your class,” asks the announcer, and Yuuri takes another deep breath, his hands sweaty and clenched together in front of him.

“Yuuri Katsuki,” he says, and is proud that his voice doesn’t wobble like he thought it would, “Ms. Okukawa’s class.”

“Your word is,” the announcer pauses for effect, “’curl.’”

“Curl,” Yuuri repeats, like he practiced, “C-U-R-L. Curl.”

“That is correct,” the announcer says, and Yuuri breathes a sigh of relief as he returns to his seat. He hears polite claps and a few louder cheers that he instinctively knows is Viktor and Yuuko.

From there, Yuuri only grows more confident as he passes through the rounds, the words getting slightly more difficult.

“Chore. C-H-O-R-E. Chore.”

“Felt. F-E-L-T. Felt.”

“Useless. U-S-E-L-E-S-S. Useless.”

Yuuri frowns to himself as he sits back down after that one. He doesn’t like that word.

“Thumb. T-H-U-M-B. Thumb.”

He’s proud he remembered the B on the end. It was one of the words he’d missed when practicing with Viktor.

“Husband. H-U-S-B-A-N-D. Husband.”

The suggestive whistle that shoots through the applause makes Yuuri blush as he turns back to his seat, and he hides his face from Viktor’s too-knowing smile so he won’t see the one on Yuuri’s face.

Then it starts getting really hard.

“Your word is ‘fourth,’” the announcer says. Yuuri pauses, biting his lip. There’s only three of them left on the stage.

“Can you use it in a sentence?” he asks politely. He knows there’s more than one word that sounds like that, and he’s not sure which it is.

“Tom is in fourth place,” the announcer says, and Yuuri sighs.

“Fourth. F-O-U-R-T-H. Fourth.” Yuuri holds his breath after, even though he’s sure he’s right.

“That’s correct.”

His legs feel like they’re shaking as he sits back down, and he looks over at his competitors. There’s a girl from two classes down who he’s only seen a few times in passing, and another girl from his own class that he’s never talked to.

The girl from two classes down goes up.

“Your word is ‘ready.’”

She pauses, looking unsure, and Yuuri feels for her. Silent-letter are always tricky, he thinks, and he hopes she gets it right.

“Ready. R-E-D-D-Y. Ready.”

“That is incorrect.”

With a slump of her shoulders, she exits the stage, and Yuuri feels his heartbeat speed up. Now it’s just him and the girl from his class. The rules change slightly, as they now are battling head to head. They won’t be immediately disqualified if they miss a word—as long as the other misses their word, too. If they miss and the other gets their word _right,_ it’s over.

The girl goes up to the microphone, and the announcer says, “Your word is ‘choose.’”

“Choose. C-H-O—“ She hesitates for a brief second, and Yuuri holds his breath. “—-S-E. Choose.”

“That’s incorrect.”

Yuuri moves up to the microphone as she takes her seat, facing out into the dim auditorium. He’s sweating really bad now, his palms sliding against his pants as he tries to dry them. He reminds himself to breath, in through his nose, out through his mouth.

“Your word is ‘cough.’”

“Cough.” Yuuri chuckles to himself; he’d practiced this word with Viktor, too. It’s one of those O-U words that he always messed up on. “C-O-U-G-H. Cough.”

“That’s correct.”

And Yuuri wins.

It’s almost surreal as he’s swarmed with applause and cheers, the principal announcing him as the winner and presenting him with the small trophy— _Hasetsu Elementary School 4 th Grade Spelling Bee Winner _shines up at him on the plaque.

Viktor envelops him in a hug once they’re all dismissed, and Yuuri doesn’t even know he’s crying until Viktor’s thumbs are gently swiping the tears from his cheeks. He looks so happy, so proud, that Yuuri feels like he’s about to burst. Viktor’s smile is the brightest he’s ever seen.

“You did it, Yuuri,” he says, and it’s soft, kind, breathless, like he can’t believe it. “I told you you’d win.”

Yuuri looks at the trophy in his hands, running his fingers over it gently, like he’s afraid it’ll crack if he uses too much force. “I did it,” he says, awestruck. He looks back up at Viktor and smiles. “Thank you, Viktor. I couldn’t have done it without your help.”

Viktor laughs and hugs him again, and Yuuri hugs him back. Over Viktor’s shoulder, he sees Yuuko giving him a big two thumbs up, with Takeshi beside her grinning widely, too. He feels a giggle bubble out of his chest, and he buries his face in Viktor’s shoulder.

_I’m so happy._

 

Ten years later, Yuuri finds the matching trophies as he unpacks a box in their new apartment. He smiles softly, running his fingers over the plaques, and thinking back to his elementary school days.

“Yuuri?”

Yuuri looks up at his name. Viktor’s hair is short now, with that same fringe falling over his too-blue eyes, and Makkachin is greying at the edges yet still full of energy.

Viktor walks into the room, grinning when he sees what Yuuri’s holding. “Nostalgic, are we?”

Yuuri laughs, standing up. “A little,” he admits, looking at the trophies. “This was the first time I had proof that I was as smart as you.”

“You’ve always been smart.”

“But this was _proof,_ ” Yuuri says. “Proof that I could do anything I put my mind to, and you’d be there to cheer me on.”

He puts the trophies on the shelf in their room, and smiles when Viktor’s arms wrap around his waist.

“Always, Yuuri.”

**Author's Note:**

> ~~what are endings /sobs~~
> 
>  
> 
> [come talk to me about my babies on tumblr c:](http://niikiforovkatsuki.tumblr.com)


End file.
